As a long time player I have to say that I dont think this would affect me at all. I dont need to buy any new gear.
This would just hurt the new/newer players and I think that anything along those lines is bad for the mod (less players).
I remember spending weeks to get a full gothic plate set and I remember counting the days until I could get my next item. I even ran around in plate with barefeet so I could afford the cased greaves faster. It was fun for me, and yeah it was a grind but I knew no better and the rate of xp/gold gain was far better than when I first tried crpg and you only got gold/xp for personal kills (iirc?).
I cant really condone making new players go thru this when the majority of current population have had it easy for so long.
Im not against the idea, I just think that this kind of stuff should happen with a *cough*fullwipe*cough*.
But then even with a *cough*fullwipe*cough* doesnt that just postpone the same situation for another time?
Basically what Im saying is I dont think this suggestion should be implimented unless it's hand in hand with consistent wipes and those wipes should be every 1-3 months or something similar (perhaps coinciding with strat wipes?). If this were to happen then I also think heirlooms would need to be re-worked and the whole crpg system even more blah blah blah blahdiddy blah.
If im boring myself by typing it then Im sure you dont wanna read it!